Sign



March 1, 1927. 1,619,189 W. A. BURNS SIGN Filed Sept. l2, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. l, 1927.

UNITED- STATES remise PATENT. orner.

WILLIAM ALBERT BURNS, or LONDON, ENGLAND, AssreNQn, BY MnsNn ASSIGN- MENTS, rro CHARLES GOLD, or nA'vENs, ENGLAND.

SIGN. Y

Application filed September 12, 19124, Serial` No.1 737,427, andi in' Great` Britain September 20,1923.

This invention.- relates to signs, particularly signs adapted to be placed upon' the tops' or roofs4 ofbuildings and in like elevated positions.

VAnunderlying idea of ther invention isto producerthe illusion aty night of illuminated lettering or devices apparently floating unsupported in space above the building. or like,V andl the inventioncomprises surfaces utilized for the above purpose substantiall-y as hereinafter described. With such` surfaces, a reflected image Ot' a display device is adapted to be projected, andv the background tol said' translucent reflector is also visible therethrough, the image of said device thus appearing toV fioat unsupported in said baclrgroundlwhich may be the sky.

Other parts of the inventioncomprise the novelV construction 'and arrangements em-r bodiedrin theseveral-preferred forms of the apparatus described and specifically claimed...

Referring now to the drawings, lis the building, 2' is ythe sign casing and the horizontal arrow 3 indicates the lettered portion off the sign. Thisfis horizontal and may,

together with its casing run any required the top-.of the building. ln

length along practice, I' prefer to`- employ white lettering on" a'black or nearlyvblack ground, forming the white lettering' ofk a translucent material of being illuminated at nightby capable 5 lamps placed below iti inthe casing.

Above the casing is carriedv the' translu-l centY reflector 4, in thisr example, where the projection is intended to be horizontal, disposed at an angle of' the use of 10 transparent or translucentv plane reflecting' front view of a nightY front portionl of the top of a fiat-roofed 45O to the horizontal:

plane. This mirror may be of any suitable material that does not unduly Yobstruct. a direct view of' the slry and/or other roofs/orV like features from the observer and may be, for example, of transparent plass or talc or Celluloid or slightly tinted glass or the like. and preferably runs the whole length of` the lettered part of the sign. It may, however, be extended at either end for a short dis-k tance to increase the lateralL field of view.

This arrangementprovidesa sign no part ot' which overhangs the street and' which giives easy and safe access to any part of the casing to change the ylettering or replace eX- pended lamps; The lettering may be sectional or individual for' ease of change or may be formed onv a continuous band, or strip,- capable of being moved. along the length of the casing. Two or more rows of lettering may be carried on separate ba-nds each band being movedy at a different speed from its neighbour,

Figure 2 shows the casing mounted on the slope of a 30 roof. Int-his case, assuming the required projectionto be horizontal, the mirror 4 is inclined to the horizontal at 300. This (requires a relatively larger mirror than when the sign casing is horizontal' and in practice' we wouldv prefer to raise the front of the casing on supports to bring ithorizontal. Tnthe arrangement shown both in this figure and in Fig. `1,the apparent position 5 of the lettering is behind the mirror and the letteringwill appear toffloat in space beyondthe edge' of! the building; Inall' cases it is'clear that the backgroundto said transparent reflector will be visible therethrough simultaneously with the image of said device.

In Fig. 3, lis as before the top of a flatroofed-building, 2 is the sign casingand 4 the mirror, here raised some height above the' sign casing. 7 is the roadway and 8 and 9 above the sign casing 3 the higher the apparent image ot' the lettering will be raised above the roof of the building.

Fig. 4 shows a similar arrangement but 5 with the sign casing 2 inclined at 450 to the horizontal. In this case," assuming the required downward angle et' the reflected rays to be also 45 the mirror 4t is horizontal.

This gives a higher degree of reflection than that obtained by the arrangement shown 'in Fig. 3. lt also permits of a second sign eas ing 2 being placed under the mirror. The

lettering of this second sign would not be visible to persons on pavement 9 with the mirror shown as in 4 but if the mirror pivu oted along its length so that it can be tilted into the position fl, the first sign 3 will disappear and the second sign 3 take its place.

Mechanical tilting ot the mirror from one position to the other will cause the two signs to appear alternately. W'e may thus employ a tilting mirror to reflect two or more signs tothe saine line.

Fig. 5 shows an arrangement to enable a considerable apparent height of the in'lage 5 to be obtained by a relatively low mirror 3. Here the lettering of the sign case which is vertical, is reflected by an intermediate silvered mirror G on to the transparent mirror 4 and the apparent position of the image 5 is increased'by the distance between the sign casing` Q and the intermediate mirror (i.

Referring now to Figs. (i, 7 and 8, the transparent mirror is represented at 10 and the arrangements are similar to those already described. The sign casing l1 has a series ot' lamps 10 disposed in a trough-shaped rcfleetor 13 of parabolic section and is covered by a ground glass 14: and opaque black or colourless moving band 15 provided with transparent lettering or devices. The ground glass, or a stationary stencil, may be provided with a series of inclined parallel or wavy lines or inclined surfaces suflicient to distort the view of the device transmitted therethrough so as to give a rather ncbulous appearance to the image, confusing the eye as to distance and giving the illusion of a moving luminous body ot lettering floating at anindefinite distance. For this purpose Huted glass may be used. Alternatively a diffusing screen of ground or fluted glass or a coloured translucent screen may be disposed just above the band. The supports 16 for the back of the transparent mirror are masked by the front supports 17 which are formed and painted to resemble the silhouettes ofchimneys or other suitable architectural features or the like according to the nature of the site. As shown in Figs. 6 and 7 the top supporting bar 18 is also masked by means ot' avertical or inclined strip of unbordered glass or of silvered mirror 19 reflectingr another portion of the sky blending into the background. The innige in cach case is represented at 20. The supports may be either at the ends of the mirror 10 or at intermediate points. As shown at Fig. t5 the transparent mirror 10 is supported wholly at .its lower portion and the front structuresl' may be used only to mask the sides or dispensed with altogether. The casing 11 may be longer than the sign or shorter and particularly in the latter case the illumination may be caused to decrease gradually at the ends by means ot suitably graded n'rasks or shields, so that the moving lettering app-ears to fade away at each end of its Zone of maximum brightn ness. .A moving (prefeably intermittent) cylinder or other illuminated device may of course be substituted for the band, and various modifications may be introduced in the details of the apparatus without departing from the invention; for example one direct and one reflected .legend or device may be simultaneously reflected. by the same transparent mirror, giving the effect of floating in'iages in more than one plane.

ln all cases the display device arranged so as not to he directly visible along' the line of sight oli the observer of the image at substantial distances from the surface ot the reflector. lt is obvious that in the case of a roof' sign observed by passers-by in a thoroughfarc the device will be invisible. "In other cases any suitable mask may be einiloycd to conceal it from direct view.

lhe invention is not confined to signs built on the root ot a building, as the sign may be otherwise supporti-id by means oi any ele rated support so as to produce the appear ance ol an image floating in the sky.

l claim: l. A means for displaying a sign to bc visible as floating in the air against the sky as a background, comprising a display device mounted by an elevation materially above the eye of the observer and wholly con eealed by such elevation from the eye ot the observer, a translucent reflector arranged above the display device and between it and the background, and at an angle other than a right angle to the display device to cause the line of observation to be through the reflector to the background wholly beyond said elevation and said display device.

A root' sign wherein the display device is to be projected as visible as if floating in the air with the sky as a background comprising a display device arranged on the root in such a manner as to be wholly concealed by the roof structure trom the eye of the observer below the roof, a translucent reflector arranged at such a height above the roof and at such an angle to the display device that the line ot' vision from the eye of the observer through said reflector is wholly beyond the roof and permits a view ol the sky background in direct vision the reflector being arranged at such an angle to the display device as to project the characters from such device against that portion of' the sky background as is in the line of observation.

3. A roofI sign including a plurality of display devices, a translucent reflector through which the eye of the observer' may view the sky as a background wholly beyond such display devices, and means for varying the angula-r relation of the translucent reflector to direct the projection from such display devices in the line of vision which is arranged wholly beyond the display devices and includes the reflector and sky background.

ll. A means for displaying sign matter or the like as apparently floating under the open sky above a building, comprising a device located on and wholly concealed by an elevated portion of the building and adapted for displaying` illuminating matter in an upward direction, a translucent reflector arranged at such a distance above the buildingand at such an angle to the display device as to refleet an image of the matter from said display device downwardly at a predetermined inclination to thereby determine the line of vision from an observer at the ground level to see the whole of such image apparently floating in the sky beyond the reflector and above the building.

5. A roof sign including a plurality of display devices seated upon the roof of a building and wholly concealed by said roof from the eye of the observer, a translucent rellector, a structure to raise said reflector in the line of' vision of the observer and to interpose it between liis eye and the normal background above the roof', and means to project the image from one of said display devices directly into the said line of vision and on to said reflector.

6. A roof sign including a plurality of display devices situated upon the roof, a translucent reflector arranged to reflect an image :from one display device into the line of vision of the observer and a second reflector interposed optically between another display device and said translucent reflector so that the said translucent reflector also indirectly reflects an image from said other display device into the said line of vision.

7. A roof sign including a display device, a translucent reflector, a structure raising said reflector above the roof into the line of' sight of an observer looking at the sky over said roof, and a second reflector interposed optically between said display device and said translucent reflector so as to present an image from said display device facing upwardly towards said translucent reflector, the arrangement being such that the apparentplane of the image reflected by the translucent reflector to the observer isthus further behind and above the translucent reflector than the distance between the two reflectors.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

VILLIAM ALBERT BURNS. 

